WORKING AROUND THE INJURY

Are you letting your injury be your excuse to staying out of the gym? DO NOT let your gains and hard work slip away! Here are some tips to keep you focused and training:

1. SEE A DOCTOR

There is nothing worse that you can do for your body than to ignore an injury and continue to work through the pain. I know one of the phrases put out in the gym world is to push through the pain, however if you continue to push through a serious injury you run a serious risk of making the injury worse or turning it into a chronic problem. If you have been experiencing a persistent pain for a few weeks, have any numbing, tingling, swelling, or have radiating pain the best thing you can do is to have your injury looked over by a doctor.

2.RESTLet's be honest laying around waiting for your body to heal and not do anything can be a real pain in itself. However, as I mentioned above you do not want to make your situation worse and re-aggravate your injury. Have perspective, you have to be healed before you can maintain or develop fitness, let alone optimize it. Rest the injury first. If you're worried about gaining weight while you take a break just eat less calories since your output of calories won't be as high as it normally would.

3.NutritionWhile you are injured or are recovering from injury there is no reason why you cannot be on track with your nutrition.Providing your body with the right nutrients such as fruits, raw vegetables, and omega- 3 fatty acids can actually accelerate the healing process.There are also some supplements that you can take, if you are not taking already, that can help repair muscle tissue, bones and skin. Some of these supplements and vitamins are BCAA, Vitamin B & C, Multivitamin, and Glucosamine.

4.ModifyOnce you are made aware of what your restrictions and limitations are you can modify to workouts to work around that injured area. The important thing to remember is to be able to protect the injured area while still training the rest of your body. For example if you have an ankle injury you might want to avoid any workouts that demand the use of balance and stabilization of the legs. Try changing from free weights to machines, or skipping the leg workouts and focus on back, shoulders, or arms.

With these few key points in mind, injury can happen anywhere. Often times it does happen frequently in the gym. Most of the injuries can be avoided by warming up for at least 5 minutes before you start your workout, using proper form while lifting, and stretching at the end of your workout.